Chicken and olive filo pasties

(Serves six)

Olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small aubergine, diced and salted if preferred
1 red pepper, diced
500 g chicken breast or boneless chicken thighs, diced
60 g pitted black olives, shredded
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp dried thyme
100 g feta cheese, crumbled
Salt and pepper
6 large sheets filo pastry

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan and fry the onion until starting to soften. Add the garlic and aubergine and cook until the aubergine starts to brown, then stir in the red pepper and fry for a minute more. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Add the chicken to the pan and cook until it just loses its ‘raw’ colour, then add it to the bowl, together with the olives, parsley, thyme and feta cheese and season with a little salt and plenty of pepper.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Take one sheet of filo at a time, brush it lightly with olive oil, fold in half widthways and brush it generously again with olive oil, then do the same to the rest of the sheets.

Divide the chicken mixture between the pastry, placing it on one long side and leaving about four-cm clear each end. Roll it over once, flip the sides up over the filling, brush them with olive oil, and roll it all up. Put the pasties on to a lightly oiled baking tray, seam side down, brush them over with oil and bake for about 35 minutes. Lay a piece of foil lightly over the pasties if they start to brown too quickly. These are very good served with some Maltese-style baked potatoes and zucchini with zalza pikkanti.